Day 1

So, back to Saturday, January 16th at 3:00 am. Roxane and I arrived at Dulles Airport 30 minutes a head of schedule. The Copa Airlines baggage check counter was nearly empty and so we ready to go to the gate by 3:15. Surprisingly, we were not the first to arrive. After checking in we connected with Michelle and discovered that she had gone on the trip last year. I began to get excited as I listened to her talk about her experience last year. Here's the first trip picture. (Roxane is on the left and Michelle is seated on the right) As 3:30 approach more and more of our group arrived. Everything went smoothly except for the fact that Katie accidentally went to the web check in line when she hadn't checked in on the web. Apparently this was quite improper and the woman behind the counter was somewhat indignant. When Katie looked down at her seat assignment, she was not surprised to see that somehow she had been assigned a middle seat.
We all decided to walk with Katie to the gate to see if she could get a better seat. Low and behold when we got the gate, the SAME woman was there. Needless to say Katie didn't get a new seat. After we were all on board the plane I looked up and saw the SAME woman walking down the isle. My head swung around to see if the woman was going to escort Katie off the plane. Thankfully, she left Katie alone!

We arrived in Panama on schedule and made our connecting flight. [As an aside we were very fortunate that Leslie, the trip leader, got us out of the bathroom line in Panama as we barely made the last call for the flight.] As this was my first experience on Copa Airlines I wasn't sure what to expect. It really was a very pleasant trip. (Katie's encounter aside) Copa allows you to check two bags for free, (American Airlines only allows 1). Copa also feeds you on both flights. We aren't talking peanuts, either. We got a full breakfast on the first flight and a delicious sandwich on the second flight. Couple that with a free beverage (with alcohol if you want it) and who can complain?

When we arrived in Mangua (pronounced Manawa) we were met by Bridges staff members Dave, who would be one of our two group leaders, and Nikki, who is the senior Bridges staff member for Ticuantepe. We were led out to the bus that would be our primary source of transportation on our trip (when we weren't in the community). Our bags were loaded on top of the bus (see picture) and off we went.